They also completed Rogers' annual review — moved up this year due to complaints against him by some staff members — and began work on adopting a formal employee grievance procedure to handle staff complaints.

""He (Rogers) received a note of support," board Chairman Todd Smith said of the review.

At the same time, Smith said the board issued clear expectations of both Rogers and staff for the coming year.

A final decision on whether to seek a millage will come at the Feb. 16 board meeting, Smith said.

The Paul Bennett Recreation Center is home to the Howell Area Parks and Recreation Authority.(Photo: Livingston Daily file photo)

Board members are considering seeking 0.75-mill levy for five years. It would replace lump-sum annual contributions from each of the authority's members communities. That system, board members said, has increasingly left the authority with budget shortfalls.

The millage would translate to $75 a year for those living in homes valued at $200,000 and would be first levied in 2017.

Due to the authority's multi-community structure, the millage would have to pass in each of its member communities to be adopted. Those communities include Howell, as well as Howell, Genoa, Marion and Oceola townships. Howell Township joined the authority last year.

The authority currently receives roughly $100,000 a year from each of its its member communities, with user fees, special events, program sponsorships and management fees for tHowell City Park and Howell Area Aquatics and Fitness Center making up the rest of its roughly annual $1.2 million budget. The millage would replace the direct contributions from each member community.

A problem with the current format, Rogers said, is that members communities' contributions no longer fully cover the authority's fixed costs. Those costs include staff pay and benefits and currently add up to roughly $700,000 a year.

The authority ended its last budget year with a $100,000 surplus, but required $80,000 in additional one-time grants from each of its member communities to assure the budget was balanced.

The millage could produce as much as $1.5 million, Rogers said. That would allow the authority money to add new programs, improve facilities and provide long-overdue staff raises, Rogers said, while keeping user fees affordable.

Under the proposal the board is considering, $1 million raised under the 0.75-mill levy would go toward operations and $500,000 for building, field and equipment upgrades.

In addition to deciding on the ballot issue, board members are also expected to formally adopt a staff grievance procedure at the February meeting.

That action grew from an August dispute between Rogers and some staff members working the annual Howell Melon Festival.

Reprimands issued by Rogers were removed from the staff members' files after a special board meeting on the dispute. At the same time, the board placed a formal warning in Rogers' own file regarding the way he handled the situation.

Though circumstances were substantially different, it marked the second time in three years that staff members had brought complaints against and authority director to the board.

Rogers replaced a former director who resigned in 2013 after it was revealed she was involved in a romantic relationship with a staff member.

In addition to providing swim, sports and exercise programs, the authority also sponsors the Melon Festival in the summer and the Legend of Sleepy Howell, an annual Halloween program. Both are among Livingston County’s best-attended events.